How does Roxi do it?

Bydebi

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09 Dec, 2015

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She is My Light Part II

This post is Part II of the previous post "She is My Light."

What is it about Roxi, a service dog, that
changed Aaron's life in such a positive way? What does Roxi do exactly that has
taken a boy seemingly destined for isolation and depression and re-routed him
toward participation and a fulfilling future?

In scientific studies, being with a dog has shown to decrease blood pressure
and slow heart-rates better than being with another person. Other studies look
at the "happiness" chemicals of dopamine, oxytocin, and
serotonin. Most studies focus on oxytocin, a soothing chemical released
when petting a dog, being near a dog, or just looking at a dog.

Aaron has great support from his parents and
adults at school, but none of those adults can walk beside Aaron without
intruding on the human-to-human, peer-to-peer dynamic. But Roxi
can. Roxi can provide reassurance, physical contact, even eye contact, and
the same resulting biochemical reactions without being a barrier between Aaron
and peers. She is simultaneously invisible yet ever present.

Aaron says that "Roxi has a way of
sensing I am stressed and having a difficult time coping." His parents
report that "Roxi has the ability to sense Aaron's needs and fulfill them
with patience, comfort and the strength Aaron needs to make it through any
difficulty." Science has been backing this up with research into how a
service dog's ability might be related to their heightened sense of smell. As
found with dogs that detect cancer or a drop in blood glucose, some theorize
that different human reactions - like fear, anxiety, and sadness - smell
differently to dogs.

The Alliance Blog

Our new kennels (more like private suites!) are open. Which means it's time to get down to business!

These past few weeks, our staff has spent many hours evaluating shelter
dogs to find the select few who have the right temperament required to
be a service dog. Once brought into the Hounds for Heroes kennels, they meet with several different trainers daily and their
progress is tracked. The goal is to perfect basic manners before
earning the coveted vest, which allows them public assess to train in a
variety of environments.

Hi everybody! It’s
Tucker and guess what, I’m no longer a service dog in training. I’m now a full-fledged,
100% service dog. That’s the very
exciting news I was talking about in my previous post. I have been super busy being the best helper
ever to my forever person, so it’s taken me a while to have time to write this
last blog, but I didn’t want to leave all my peeps hanging!

Last month, mom and Debi set up a time for me to meet my
potential forever person. We were all a
little nervous about how the meeting would go.
After all, it meant I was going to be meeting the person I was going to
spend the rest of my life with -- pretty heavy stuff. Well, turns out that there was absolutely no
reason for nerves. The minute I saw my
forever dad, it was love at first sight for both of us. It was like my foster mom had left the
room. I immediately only had eyes for my
new dad. Mom and Debi laughed the
attachment was so obvious.

That didn’t mean we were home free, though. Mom and a team of service dog trainers worked with my new dad to teach him all of the commands that I'd spent the last several months perfecting. Of course, I did spectacularly!

After this, my mom and I said goodbye and I got to go to my
potential permanent home. Mom cried a
little and hugged and kissed me, but she actually did pretty good. She said it was because she knew I was going
to go to a new home where I would make a big difference in my new dad’s life.

I’m back! It’s me,
Tucker, continuing my saga of becoming a Service Dog. Sorry it’s been a while since I wrote, but
man, have I been busy. Today, I’ll tell
you about some of my new adventures out in the real world.

I’d been to Costco and done so well that mom decided it was
time to take me grocery shopping at HEB.
So that I wouldn’t be too intimidated at first, we made our first trip
early in the morning. I was a little
distracted, but every time I started to lose focus, mom asked me to “Watch Me”
and I immediately made eye contact with her.
We didn’t stay too long and mom only picked up a few items, but I was a
good boy and did a down stay at the checkout and waited for her to pay for our
selections.

Over the next few weeks, we made several more trips to the
grocery store during busier times of the day.
Now, I’m able to go with mom while she does all of her shopping for the
week, even going on the weekend. Mom says
that’s even hard for her to do!

Hello Everybody! It’s
Tucker the Service Dog in training again.
I’ve been really excited to tell you about a big adventure I had in my
journey to becoming a Service Dog. First,
let me tell you, Mom and I have been blowing and going since I got my new
vest. We’ve been to Target, Bed, Bath
and Beyond, Specs, Bicycle Sports Shop and a whole lot of other places. For the most part, I’m a perfect little
angel, although, I’m still working on ignoring other dogs.

One of the big milestones in my training came a few weeks
ago. I went to Costco. Well, anyone that has ever been to Costco
knows it’s a busy place. They have
lots of cool stuff and THEY HAVE PEOPLE FOOD!
Well, this was my first experience going somewhere that had a bunch of
people food. Mom, Susan and I walked all
around the store with a big basket past lots of different food. The hardest part of the whole experience was
walking down the meat aisle. I thought I
was in doggie heaven. I really wanted to
look at all the different meat, but Mom kept asking me to sit and watch her, so
I made it down the aisle with no mishaps.

Another thing I got to practice was settling. When Mom and Susan would stop to talk to
people about me, it was my job to lay down and wait patiently until they got
finished talking. I like doing this
since I can chill out and listen to all the nice things people say about
me. A lot of times, people have stories
to tell about their dogs or service dogs they’ve known. That part is cool, too.

"Having
Rocco come to our clinic is the highlight of many of
our clients weeks," explains Katie Duke, Clinical Director and Owner of OT Connection. "His owner Guille has had great ideas of how to
incorporate him into our Speech, Occupational, and Physical Therapy
sessions that highlight his 'tricks!' They walk him, brush
him, dress him up in costumes, command him to do tricks, have
tennis ball races, and so much more. The activities target fine motor
skills, bilateral coordination, expressive language, motor planning,
eye-hand coordination, and self-care/dressing skills.
Having Rocco involved in our sessions motivates many of our little ones
to participate in activities that weren’t able to be elicited before."

Guille, Rocco's owner, adopted Rocco 7 years ago. They soon realized that he had a
naturally calm temperament, and she and her husband decided to
involve him in the Austin Dog Alliance Pet Therapy Program.

"Throughout the training process," Guille explained, "he responded very well to all of the
tests, including simulations of loud, crowded environments. When people
approached him, he would remain at ease."

The team visits
O.T. Connection on Tuesdays and Provident Crossings every other Thursday.

"I remember that at the beginning
I didn't quite understand how much dogs could help, but very soon I realized
that even with just their presence, the therapy dogs provide a feeling of peace that I could actually feel myself. I love being part of this program -- it is a joy to see that Rocco can make a child or an elderly individual smile and make them feel so relaxed.

We
are both learning every week how we can help them more, how we can make
them happier, and how we can make a difference every single time
we are there... and we are really enjoying it!"

Hi to everyone that’s been reading my blog. For those of you that haven’t been, my name
is Tucker and I’m a service dog in training with Austin Dog Alliance’s Hounds
for Heroes program.

Last time I told you about all my hard work in my Dog Manners
2 class. We continued to work on polite
behavior like letting a person walk up and waiting patiently by my mom’s side
until she told me it was okay to go say hi to them. That is totally tough for me since I really
like people, but I’m starting to get the hang of it.

Another funny thing we worked on was playing like we were
shopping in a store. I had to do a down
stay while mom pretended to try on some funny clothes and a hat. Boy, did I want to get up and laugh at her,
but I controlled myself and remained in my stay until she told me free (that’s
my release word that tells me it’s okay to get up)!

After 4 of my Dog Manners 2 classes, I was doing so well
that all the ladies who are trainers for Austin Dog Alliance decided I was
ready for the next HUGE step in my becoming a service dog. I was going to have to take a test! The test is called the Canine Good Citizen
test (also known as the CGC test). I was
kind of apprehensive but everyone assured me that I could do it, so I was
willing to give it a shot. The CGC test
has 10 parts. Several of the parts
demonstrate my obedience prowess. Well,
I could ace those, no problem. The other
items tested my ability to focus on my mom which was a little harder, but I
still did pretty good. Finally, my mom
had to leave me with a lady I didn’t know and walk out of my site for 3
MINUTES. That seemed like an eternity,
and I did cry (just a little), but I did it.

Guess what, I PASSED.
My reward for passing this test was an awesome surprise. I got my very own vest to wear that says
“Service Dog in Training”. My mom
was pleased as punch that I passed.
Getting my vest meant that I could start going to places that normally
don’t allow dogs -- can you imagine such a thing?

Our pet therapy teams are out in the community every day of
the week helping children learn, visiting hospitals and nursing homes along
with a wide array of other services. They really are a heroic group of people
and dogs.

But in addition to the routine requests we receive, we also
receive requests that are outside the norm, for example:

“Do you have a team that speaks Spanish? The dog needs to
speak Spanish too.” (Yes, we do!)

“Could you help us make a public service announcement? We
need a dog who can open a box, jump in and close it behind him.” (Yes, we can!)

We receive many requests for media appearances and calls
from all over the United States inquiring about our programs. But recently we received a request from a professor with UT
and MIT, Dr. Bradley Knox, who is developing an interactive, animatronic dog to -- hopefully -- help children learn.